28 March 2015

Procession of the Estates of the Scottish Parliament. From Atlas Historiques (1732).

Morton visit Dunfermline Athletic. 2014-15 was supposed to be an epic battle between the Pars and the Ton, but Dunfermline have pretty much not shown up. Morton have won all three matches.

Are Morton shoo-ins for the promotion playoffs? Pretty nearly. If they win only half of their remaining games they'll finish with 63 points. If fifth-place Dunfermline win all their remaining games they'll finish with 62.

Dunfermline is one of about a dozen locations to have housed a medieval Scottish parliament. The list of places, according to Wikipedia, runs: Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling, St Andrews, Dundee, Linlithgow, Dunfermline, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and Berwick-upon-Tweed. David Hume of Godscroft, historian of the Douglases, puts one in Forfar. Which when you take them together would make a pretty decent football league. On a good year the Premiership might include seven of them; though this season there are five. The only two places that have never had teams in the SFL/SPFL are Linlithgow and St Andrews. Linlithgow in West Lothian is the site of Linlithgow Palace, and home to Linlithgow Rose FC, four-time winners of the Scottish Junior Cup, and the amateur side Linlithgow Thistle AFC. St Andrews has the University of St Andrews (founded 1410-13), St Andrews Cathedral (abandoned in 1561) and St Andrews United FC, winners of the 1959-60 Scottish Junior Cup.

Hearts have won the Championship title. But the League One title race will probably go to the final weekend. Stranraer, Morton and Forfar are neck and neck ... and neck. Of those three, Forfar have the easiest game today, against Stirling Albion. Also Forfar benefit from not having to play Morton or Stranraer again, which I think makes them narrow favourites to finish in first place.

League One is completely caught up on its postponed games. Rain and snow have not been a great inconvenience this winter, and the last time any League One club had a cup commitment was February 8th.

[Morton win 0 - 4. Goals by S. McCluskey, Kilday, McManus and Russell. Stranraer and Forfar both win, so Morton remain one point out of first place.]

Yesterday UCD AFC were away against Wexford Youths in League of Ireland First Division play. Wexford won 1 - 0.

The League of Ireland has twenty clubs, divided into two divisions. You would think: ten and ten. But in point of fact the Premier Division has twelve and the First Division eight. The big idea, I think, is to make the top division as solid and impressive as possible, but it's at the cost of leaving the bottom division short-arsed. With only seven opponents, the schedule is over at 28 games.

14 March 2015

The Black Hill transmitter near Airdrie is the tallest structure in Scotland. Source.

Greenock Morton visit Excelsior Stadium for an afternoon of association football with Airdrieonians. Morton are in first place, and need a win to ensure they stay top. Airdrie are fifth and part of a middle pack of teams safe from relegation but needing to close a 7-point gap to make the promotion playoffs. Significantly, the Diamonds have not lost since January 10th. In three league meetings so far, each side has a win, a draw and a loss.

In this the era of the three point win, it is almost always preferable to win your own game while every other match ends in a draw. Morton are hoping today's match of the day between Forfar and Stranraer ends in a draw.

[Airdrie win 2 - 1. Morton goal by J. McCluskey. Forfar beat Stranraer, but the Greenockians manage to cling to first place on goal difference. Despite losing, Morton mathematically evade relegation. The Ton can finish no worse than seventh now.]

You don't have to be James VI and I to recognize that Scottish clubs should play English clubs more often than they do. It would raise the profile of the SPFL and help them land larger TV contracts. A summer cup would be nice. Or how about a series of derbies between clubs with some kind of historical connection or geographical similarity? Greenock Morton versus Bristol Rovers, frinstance.

28 February 2015

Peterhead Prison is to Scotland as Abashiri Prison is to Japan. Beginning in 1882, Peterhead was where Scotland's most hardcore criminals wound up, and during World War One, its Communists. John Mclean was one of the latter category, imprisoned for making antiwar speeches in 1918. In 1907 he wrote a pamphlet called The Greenock Jungle about slaughter-house conditions on the Clyde.

Greenock Morton visit Peterhead at Balmoor. This is their third meeting of the season. Each has taken one win off the other. Morton are in second place, one point behind Stranraer. Peterhead are sixth, six points out of a playoff spot. High winds could cause the postponement of quite a few matches today, so it could be Morton's chance to grab first place while other teams run for shelter. [Weather not a factor anywhere.]

As the three-quarter mark of the schedule approaches, four clubs have a real shot at winning the division: Stranraer, Morton, Forfar and Brechin, with Dunfermline an unlikely fifth.

[Morton win 1 - 3. Goals by McManus (2) and Caldwell. Stranraer also win, so Morton remain one point behind. Stirling lose and can finish the season no better than fifth. Morton cannot finish tenth.]

[Hearts beat Cowdenbeath 10 - 0.]

On Thursday Inter Milan beat Celtic 1 - 0. Celtic are out of the Europa League.

Today in Japan it's the Fuji Xerox Super Cup. This event, which kicks off the domestic Japanese football season, ideally matches the J1 champion and the winner of the Emperor's Cup. But in the event that a club has taken the Double, like Gamba Osaka just did, the J1 runners-up are invited to fill in. Consequently today's match is between Gamba and Urawa Red Diamonds.

Gamba Osaka actually won the Treble. They were League Cup winners too.

Gamba have won the Super Cup once, in 2007, after winning the J League championship. Urawa Red Diamonds have won it four times, twice as league champions, once as Emperor's Cup winners, and once as Emperor's Cup runners-up. (Before 2009 in the event of a Double it was the Emperor's Cup runners-up who played.)

[Gamba win 2 - 0.]

Both clubs were also in AFC Champions League group stage action this week. Here are all the results involving Japanese teams:

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 0 - 0 Kashiwa Reysol

Gamba Osaka 0 - 2 Guangzhou R&F

Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2 - 1 Urawa Red Diamonds

Kashima Antlers 1 - 3 Western Sydney Wanderers

Not propitious.

[Today also saw the playing of the President's Cup, a supercup between the League Ireland champions Dundalk and the FAI Cup winners St. Patrick's Athletic. This is only the second year for this new cup competition. Dundalk won 2 - 1.]

07 February 2015

Last-place Stirling Albion visit Cappielow. Stranraer are playing in the Scottish Cup today, so this is Morton's golden opportunity to take over first. It doesn't hurt that Declan McManus is now back with the club. If Morton are to score a manita this season, today's the day to do it. [Nope, not today. The match is postponed following a pitch inspection.]

Peter MacDonald has scored in each of Morton's last three games.

Six League One clubs are in league action today. Two others, Stranraer and Brechin City, are playing in the Scottish Cup. The other two, Dunfermline and Stenny, are still in bed, hungover. [Forfar win their game and push past Morton into second place.]

It's the Scottish Cup, Fifth Round. Morton are out, thanks to Spartans FC in Round Four. Today we're closely watching Spartans, who are on the cusp of history against Berwick. If Spartans win they will become only the third non-league club to make the Scottish Cup quarter-finals. (1959-60 Eyemouth United; 1967-68 Elgin City.)

[Spartans 1 - 1 Berwick. Spartans live to replay another day.]

Morton were knocked out of the Scottish Cup on November 29th. How late into the season have the Ton gone in past years? The high-water mark for the 21st Century is February 22 (2003), when Morton were knocked out of the fourth round by Stranraer. The truly late dates, however, are in the 20th Century. Morton won the Cup on April 15, 1922. And they lost the Cup Final to Rangers in a replay on April 21, 1948.

31 January 2015

Morton visit Forfar Athletic for an afternoon of Seaside League association football action. This is League One Match of the Day. Forfar occupy second place in the table, while Morton are a point behind them in third place. Either side can take over first today, if only Stranraer lose. However, Stranraer are playing Stirling.

Forfar's Dick Campbell is the longest serving of current SPFL managers. He started in May 2008.

[Morton win 2 - 1. McKee and MacDonald score. As expected, Stranraer also win. Morton are in second place.]

It's the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup. Aberdeen versus Dundee United today; Celtic versus Rangers tomorrow; both matches at Hampden Park. The Aberdeen - Dundee United game preempts a league match between ... Aberdeen and Dundee United. Both Celtic and Dundee United are in contention for the Treble. [Dundee United win. Celtic win.]

24 January 2015

James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, was Regent of Scotland from 1572-79, during the minority of James VI. He introduced the Maiden, a primitive guillotine he had seen in use in Halifax, Yorkshire, to Scotland. After his fall from power he was implicated in the murder of Darnley and subsequently beheaded with it. "Airt and pairt" is Scots legalese for contrivance and participation.

What SPFL clubs have the same name as a Scottish peer? Hamilton, Montrose (both Dukes); Morton, Elgin, Dundee and Aberdeen (all Earls).

Dunfermline Athletic travel to Cappielow. Today's kickoff is delayed until 17:30 GMT to accommodate BBC Alba, who are broadcasting the match in Gaelic. The BBC programmers must have pencilled in this meeeting when the season was young and Dunfermline were expected to hold first place and Morton second. But going into today's play Morton are third and the Pars a demoralizing fifth. Fifth doesn't make the playoffs. Three years ago the Pars were in the SPL. Morton have won both previous meetings 2 - 1.

Michael Tidser is back with the club! He's signed a contract for two and a half years. No, wait! FIFA says he can't play this season because he has already appeared for two clubs. The Cowshed's setting up the Maiden.

17 January 2015

Morton visit Somerset Park for an afternoon's association football against Ayr United. Ayr won both encounters in the first half of the season. Which is shocking because Morton are in second place and Ayr are in ninth.

Are Ayr? Ayr are.

Andy Barrowman has left Morton. The club has now lost its #1 and #2 scorers of the first half. But Ross Forbes, formerly of Dunfermline, has signed. Rumours swirl around Michael Tidser.

Last night's match between Rangers and Hearts was abandoned after 20 minutes because of snow. Today's Motherwell versus Kilmarnock match is postponed due to wind damage at Fir Park. Elgin City versus Clyde is also off. Other fixtures depend on this morning's pitch inpection. But our one is on.

This is the first season in which relegation and promotion are possible between tier four (League Two) and tier five (the Highland and Lowland Leagues). It's quite foreseeable that next season Edinburgh City will be up and Elgin City will be down. Though Elgin City FC were founded in 1893, they only entered the SFL in 2000. They have played Morton five times in world history, once in Round Three of the 1967-68 Scottish Cup (Morton won), and four times in 2002-03, the Ton's Third Division season (Morton won three with one draw.) If Elgin City return to the Highland League, and Edinburgh City leave the Lowland League, both leagues will have an odd number of clubs, unless some as yet poorly understood mechanism comes into force.

fitbastats.com now has all 42 SPFL clubs' stats up. I encourage all of mankind to make use of that site.

10 January 2015

Stenhousemuir is named after a stone house. But Scotland is full of stone houses, so what makes this one special? It was built by the Romans.

Morton visit Ochilview Park, house of Stenhousemuir FC. The two clubs have taken a win off each other so far this season. Now Morton are in third place with 31 points, Stenny in eighth with 20. A win for the Greenockians could lift them into second place, provided Forfar lose; a loss could drop them as far as fifth.

Morton were relegated to the Second Division (now called League One) at the end of 1993-94. They won that division in 1994-95 with 64 points (18 wins, 10 draws and 8 losses) and were promoted back up after only one year. Is this year shaping up like that one? Not really, as Morton already have eight losses.

The Ton were again demoted to the Second Division at the end of 2000-01. Is this year like 2001-02? No. The club finished tenth that year with 7 wins, 14 draws and 15 losses for 35 points. They already have 10 wins this season, and 31 points.

Conclusion: this season is unlike any that has gone before.

Reece Hands has left Morton. Ross Caldwell, late of St Mirren, and Grant Adam have signed up. AND Peter MacDonald, the September 2011 Ginger Boot, is back! Promotion for sure!

27 December 2014

I cannot get enough of the Stirling Heads. This is Margaret Tudor with her heraldic greyhound. Her marriage to James IV in 1503 led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the Union of Parliaments in 1707, and the referendum of 2014.

Morton visit Forthbank Stadium to play Stirling Albion. Stirling Albion have one win so far this season. This should be a gimme. You would think.

Margaret Tudor died in 1541. Sometime that same decade, someone kicked this football into the rafters of the Queen's Chamber, where it lodged and was then hidden behind a new ceiling, to be rediscovered in the 1970s and sent to the Stirling Smith Museum which also has the world's oldest curling stone!

[Morton win 3 - 4. Goals by McKee, McManus (2), plus an own goal. Morton see out 2014 in third place.]